Almond Green Tea Cupcakes, light, fluffy, and you can even pretend that it’s healthy.
I decided to invest in my future the other day. I spent a whole ten hard earned dollars on scratch off tickets. Why? Because I had a $10 bill hanging out in my pocket for three weeks for the car wash that I hadn’t taken my car to and because a client of mine had just won 4 grand with scratch offs.
What you should note is that this is really out of character for me. I voluntarily threw away ten dollars. I am way to stingy to be wasting money scratching off lottery tickets. We all know the odds. In case you’re curious, I won two dollars. Lost eight. Not exactly the kind of investment you write home to your mother about. But at a certain point in life you start to dream a little bigger, and if wasting a buck on a scratch off every now and again allows me a few moments of happy day dreams, I can’t say I won’t do it again.
But you’re probably here for the cupcakes.
What does this have to do with cupcakes? Not a damned thing. Nor does it have anything to do with Chinese New Year, Sunday, but maybe I can loosely tie them together saying I was hoping that they would help with a fresh start and some luck. ;D
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Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds
- 2 cups cake flour
- 1/2 cup flour
- 2 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter - softened
- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp pure almond extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup ice cold water
- 2 large egg whites - at room temperature
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
For the green tea frosting:
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1/3 cup flour
- 1 tbsp plus 1 teas matcha powder
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter - soft but still cool, cut into small cubes
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
For The Cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
- Line two cupcake tins with paper liners.
- With your food processor, pulse the almond slices until they are nothing more then a fine powder. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and shortening together until creamy.
- Add the sugar, vanilla, and almond extract and beat until fluffy.
- Scrape down the sides and add the egg and mix.
- Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture alternating with the ice water.
- Scrape down the sides and bottom and mix for 20 seconds longer to make sure everything is combined.
- Pour batter into a large bowl and clean out mixing bowl well.
- With your whisk attachment and clean mixing bowl, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Gently fold into the batter.
- Divide batter evenly among the cupcake tins filling each 2/3 full.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through bake time. Cupcakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let cool in pan for 20 minutes before turning out to cool completely.
Make the icing:
- In a medium saucepan, whisk the flour, sugar, and matcha powder together.
- Add the milk and cream and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the mixture comes to a boil and has thickened. This takes about 20 minutes from start to finish - make sure to stir often in the last 5 minutes.
- Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into the bowl of your electric mixture.
- Beat on high until cool (This is the first time I have made this technique work for me. I let the flour cool a bit in the pan before adding it to the mixing bowl and then mixed for a good 30 minutes without touching it. Patience young grasshopper).
- Reduce speak to low and add the butter; mix until thoroughly combined. Increase the speed to high and beat until light and fluffy.
- Add in the vanilla and mix.
- Frost cupcakes as desired with either a spatula, spoon, or pastry bag and tip.
Notes
Nutritional informations provided as a courtesy and is only an approximatation. Values will changes based on ingredients used.
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And because cupcakes rock, try these.
I’ll confess to buying scratch tickets once in a blue moon too. One time I did win $50! I love the almond cupcake base for this recipe, I need to put it on my to-do list and make it happen sooner rather than later 🙂
I am not big on the scratch tickets either. Not my thing, the chances of me winning are so small, not even worth playing in my mind haha.
These are incredible Kita. No joke.
My ex used to enter the big lottery where you pick numbers once in awhile. It was fun for me cause I didn’t have to spend the money on it but he’d let me pick the numbers sometimes. Nothing ever came of it though. As for these cupcakes, I love the chocolate dipped fortune cookies as toppers!
These are beyond adorable!!
I totally thought these were for the Chinese new year! They are even green for the year of the snake 🙂 Well, whatever they are for, they look good!
Yay for winning $2 dollars (I’m clearly looking at the glass half full haha). I’m so stingy too – Jason and I are spending the night at a casino hotel and we haven’t gambled a single dollar!
Oh and these cupcakes – goodness they’re gorgeous! Love that fortune cookie garnish too!
I feel the same way about lottery tickets/scratch off tickets. It’s kinda fun but not a very wise investment, wll unitl you win a million 🙂
good luck in the Chinese New Year!
Your photos are freaking brilliant! If I knew you in RL I would probably find ways to bribe you into baking a ton of stuff for me. Like these green tea cupcakes. Or even just the frosting. I wouldn’t mind. Cheers!!
These are adorable!! Every once in a while, I’ll be having a streak of (usually bad) luck, so I go buy a lotto ticket. I figure, hey…I’m not expecting anything, so it would just be a nice surprise to win $1…or millions 😉